Elertus keeps an electronic eye on the wine cellar

Last month, Elertus of Draper, Utah unveiled its Elertus Wine Protection System, which uses a wireless sensor that monitors temperature, humidity, and movement. It’s designed to keep an eye on your wine cellar or cabinet to make sure that your vin ordinaire is properly stored and that no one is helping themselves to the odd bottle of Chateau le Tour.

Wine can be a very expensive tipple – so expensive that, for some people, it’s an investment that they expect to see a real return on. The trouble is, not everyone can afford a bespoke wine cellar installed in their home, so most people have to rely on commercial climate-controlled cabinets or DIY “cellars” under the stairs. This means there’s always a danger of something going wrong with mechanical storage, such as a pump failure, or the unpleasant discovery that the under-stairs cellar gets ten degrees too hot when the water heater behind it kicks in.

The Elertus Wine Protection System is intended to be a simple solution to avoiding a literally distasteful (and expensive) surprise. It consists of a battery-powered wireless sensor that hooks into a home's Wi-Fi network. Installed in the cellar or cabinet, it monitors temperature and humidity conditions and transmits the readings to a smartphone app. Using the app, the wine enthusiast can keep an eye on storage conditions, and the system also sends alerts when preset temperature and humidity levels are reached.

“The Elertus Wine Protection System gives consumers peace of mind that their valuable wine cellars are secure from theft and environmental damage," says Kent Hansen, President of Elertus. The system can pay for itself many times over with the prevention of a single theft or cooling system failure”.

Another problem that the Elertus Wine Protection System addresses is someone helping themselves to the inventory. The sensor is equipped with a motion detector, which alerts the owner to anyone opening the door and removing a bottle.